Mallory said that the court ruling that eliminated the emergency clause from all City Council ordinances means that a rehab project at the Kenzie Apartments in Mt. Auburn has fallen through because the 30-day delay now imposed caused a deadline to be missed.

Mallory said projects that would benefit from the $92 million upfront payment in the lease plan include a proposal to create a grocery store downtown and an I-71 interchange at Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Mallory said the city has been growing and succeeding up to this point.

'We have no intention of stopping that progress now," Mallory said.

Before the end of the week, city police officers and firefighters will find out if opponents of the plan will qualify to put the issue on the November ballot.

If the effort to gather 8,522 valid signatures falls short, the plan will take effect and there will be no city layoffs. Historically, petition drives have had about 35 percent of the signatures thrown out, so gatherers may need 12,000 to 13,000 signatures turned in to reach the required amount.

If the petition parade is successful, the city says it will shift into layoff mode starting May 1, impacting as many as 350 workers.

Because of varying union contract rules for layoff notification, the city is required to send notices anywhere from 30 to 60 days in advance.

The budget must be balance by July 1, so some pink slips to employees would go out at the start of May. Others would go out at the start of June.

The stopper would come from the Ohio First District Court of Appeals if it acts quickly. The city followed up its notice of appeal last week with a request for an expedited hearing.

Solicitor John Curp would like a decision from the appeals court in advance of May 1. So far, there has been no indication from the court about a fast-track schedule.

Opponents say the plan should go before the voters and should not be exempt from a referendum simply because the City Council considers it to be an emergency.

Councilman Chris Seelbach tweeted during the news conference that "The city CAN balance its budget WITHOUT massive police & fire layoffs by using casino revenue & priority based budget results."

Seelbach and P.G. Sittenfeld have called for a special session on Thursday to "get answers from the City Administration on why they have not pursued other proposals for dealing with the budget deficit."

The deadline for submitting petitions to the city is Thursday. By Ohio law, they must be held for 10 days before they are sent to the Hamilton County Board of Elections for verification. That period of time allows for public inspection of the petitions that could result in third party action if there is any suspected impropriety in the gathering process.

The city remains neutral in the process itself, but the administration has been very vocal in its defense of the parking plan, warning of layoffs and asking citizens to refrain from signing the petitions.

Councilman Wendell Young urged residents to read the parking plan before signing a petition.